by Daniela Poeder
(© 2001. No portion of this essay, text or image, may be reproduced without author's consent.)

Abstract:

This personal essay compares the author’s hometown of Reutlingen, Germany with San Francisco. Like many European downtowns, Reutlingen features an exclusively pedestrian area that is free of the pollution of cars, that enhances retail activity, and that contributes to a sense of connectedness between the town’s residents. Although it would be difficult to implement this feature on the scale that it exists in European towns, there are a number of areas in San Francisco where pedestrians already dominate that would naturally lend themselves to a car-free environment.